Great explanation. Flipping the player to move when there's no legal retraction is kind of the "official chess joke". It appears as Article 15 of the Problem Codex. This is one of the best of 100s of instances of this funny idea. But I would really appreciate, Frank, if you can highlight the composer's name right up front in your screen: you have plenty of space to left or right of the board. There is no IP associated with chess problems, but it's part of the problem culture to always give the composer's name when quoting a problem. This also gives a sense of history which is part of the aesthetic. Please. In this case it's Walter Freiherr von Holzhausen (Akademisches Monatsheft für Schach 1901).
Thanks for the feedback! I am totally on board with that (pun intended). I like to credit the composer in the description (if I know them), but I think the screen would be a bit better because I want their effort and work to be recognized. After all, these puzzles are incredible and I just want to show them to spread the beautiful game of chess. 🙂
"Mate in one is a term used to describe a position on a chessboard that allows the PLAYER TO MOVE to give checkmate in one move without any previous forced checks or forced moves."
Exactly. I found it funny when he said: try it with your friends they might think there’s a mistake in the puzzle. Oh gee i wonder why, because there is 🤪
The mistake he makes is, he should say WHITE gives mate in one. Not completely correct, but much better, since it can't be white's move, it has to be one move for black and THEN mate in one.
Most puzzle positions are contrived rather than impossible. There is however a genre of problems where previous history of positions has to be deduced in order to be able to solve the puzzle. The typical one is arguing that you can take en passant due to a unique prior move by the opponent.
@@levborisov8590 Those still have the correct player to move according to how the puzzle is worded. Puzzles where you have to deduce whose move it is are a whole different variety of retrograde puzzles. This one is pretending not not to be one of those when it is. It should be written more like "Prove which side has the move, and find mate in 1 for the other side."
Only in particular puzzles which are designed to be unusual in some respect. In all standard mate in X problems or win/draw studies, the convention is that the starting position has to be legal.
Yeah also when you realize white can't do it in 30 seconds the logical thing is to go "Ok can black do it?" and realize they can't in another 10 seconds. You don't need the logical mumbojumbo he is using. This is the reason why puzzles like that piss me off sometimes - Tell people who's move it is and what direction on the board are pawns moving.
As much as I want to love this puzzle, I think being intentionally misleading and getting berated for it shouldn’t be surprise. You can’t pie someone in the face and then when they get mad you explain the joke and give them compensation and expect them to not hold it against you. You were obviously fishing for people to get confused, so don’t be surprised when they don’t like the result. Most people go into chess logic puzzles assuming it’s more basic and a simple test of their knowledge, misleading people like this brings them out of their comfort zone so they obviously won’t always like it.
The thesis statement of the puzzle is a scam. The fastest way to mate black requires 2 moves. The explanation can be found in the chess notation of the puzzle solution (assuming the first move in the puzzle as move 1 and that the original score was 0-0): 1. ... black_move (1. ... black_move+) 2. white_move# 1-0
@@kotelnikovmikail wrong. chess is played 1 move at a time. each player gets a turn. for example, a game may start with: 1. e4 e5 Notice how blacks move e5 is not 2? It is 1 move. Hence, you are wrong. It would go: 1. black_move white_move# ONE MOVE
Correct, and this puzzle is cool (to me) because if one proceeds with that assumption, they realize that it isn’t not possible for it to be white’s move. It is all fun stuff! Thanks for watching! 🙂
@@ChessforCharity From that position neither black nor white have "checkmates in one" Id just be a bit pissed because what you are asking is formulated incorrectly just for the joke.
Yeah, I see that point, but I would argue that white does have mate in 1, but they are just waiting for black to make their move. I was trying to make is less of a “trick” and more of a logic puzzle. Thanks for the feedback! 🙂
@@MonsieurRob It's all about conventions. Chess Problems have somewhat different rules from Chess Games, such as the a posteriori and retro strategy conventions. The idea that white is always the one to deliver mate is a fundamental rule of chess problems, and thence the convention that black still moves first if white is the proven last move is an obscure rule, but nonetheless one that definitely exists in the codex. It is not a joke or cheap trick; it is literally in the rules for chess problems, whether you like it or not, and there are hundreds of compositions that use the same theme.
@@eifbkcn Agree. That said, the problem makes use (plays off) of the default standard for tactics training (including Mate in X problems) where you are always initiating the move...whether the first (white) or last half (black) of one full game move. The "trick" here lies in ignoring that reality. Black's move closes out game move N. White then makes use of N+1 to deliver mate. N does not equal N+1.
1. While technically true by Chess terminology, I feel like anyone who hears "Mate in 1" will be thinking that the active player will be the one to mate. Saying "Oh, Black moves, but then WHITE Mates" is kinda cheating. 2. This also reminds me of an older Puzzle that requires a DIFFERENT Outside the Box thinking solution, where you use white to capture and promote to a BLACK Knight. Now, that puzzle doesn't work any more due to a rules change, but with some tricky wording, you can still use it for a sneaky puzzle!
I saw once a puzzle where the only way to checkmate in 2 was to "overpromote" your pawn to opponent's King, they would have only 1 legal move and then you could checkmate both Kings at once.
I won't exactly call it cheating, but it is tricky, like he said. I think the point is to realise there IS no M1 for white, analyse the position, and THEN realise its black's turn. Amazing puzzle!
@@jaideepshekhar4621 Yep, that is what I was going for. I was not trying to clickbait or 'cheat' anyone. I just wanted to present a tricky logic puzzle. :)
Wrong. There's no way black's king could've gotten there if white previously moved. Black's king would've been on c8 and the pawn on b7 would've had to be moved from b6 to check the king but the rook was on c7 checking the king.
There is a different illegal move that would result in mate in 1 if it were white to move. Pawn captures c8 promote to rook/queen. There's nothing on c8 to capture, ofc, but it would result in mate
I was thinking about an illegal move for white, qxb7. it is illegal because pawn is white. But I think there's an actual chess variant where you can capture your own pieces
I thought it was black's turn at first since I intuitively thought that position is a little odd. As a beginner level, it feels nice that I actually got that right. Now to translate this knowledge to reverse my losing streak ..
It is not respectful to invite people to solve an incorrectly stated problem. A tricky logic puzzle, a problem which requires a non-standard way of thinking, must be stated correctly.
“Correctly” is a tough word to define. Sufficient information was given in order to deduce who is to move. That is what I was vague. Sorry it wasn’t clearer. If I said it was black to move, it would be super easy. That is what one can just show the position and figure it out from there. Sorry you found it disrespectful. I appreciate the feedback though. I am always trying to improve. 🙂
Yeah, that is the *logic* part of the puzzle. The fact that one can figure out that black is to move by simply studying the board is pretty cool (to me, at least). Thank you for watching!
@@ChessforCharitythat's a wonderful puzzle (The catch is, I never said that I'm speaking a proper English. In fact I'm speaking a dialect, in which "wonderful" means "terrible".)
THis puzzle is like - How do you drive from London to Paris in 1 hour? Answer: You take a plane, because you can't drive there in 1 hour, and you have to understand that you can't drive there in 1 hour to solve the puzzle. How cool is that?
That isn’t comparable at all in my opinion. You can logically deduce that it is black to move in this position. To me, that is the part that is super important. Sorry you didn’t enjoy it, but check out some of my other videos.
@@ChessforCharity I will not check out your other videos, because this one feels intellectually dishonest. Why would I want educational content from someone like that?
Technically, it is not mate in one, as the turns ends with black's move. The moves in chess are defined as follows: Move 1: {White move} {Black Move}/{Checkmate} Move 2: {White move} {Black Move}/{Checkmate} If its black to play, the turn ends, so it is not mate in 1 move, as a new move starts after black moves. So there is a mistake in the puzzle.
B8 knight is just an amazing move. Blocking the check while allowing the discovered check by the rook and also preventing the king from escaping to a6, just beautiful.
Actually figured it out backwards. I had a hunch that it was a knight promotion, and then I realized that it works if it is black's move. Good puzzle 👍
There's no mate in 1, the puzzle is formulated wrong. I also tested this position on stockfish, it says there is no mate in 1, only mate in 2. This is because 1 move can only be made by white first, and black always makes the move afterwards. You cannot do it in the other direction. If black moves, white's move is considered as the next move. Here's an example. From the position in the puzzle, assuming that the score is 0-0: 1. ... black_move 2. white_move# 1-0
"think outside of the box" Me: "oooh I see! The pawn can move diagonally without having to eat, so It moves to the right, promotes to queen and its checkmate!" "its black turn, and if it does this move its check in one" Me: "Yeah, I'm sort of a chess master my self"
I am sorry you feel that way! It is tough because I can't say it is black to move or it would ruin the whole puzzle. The key logic part is that one can *deduce* black is to move. Once they get that, the mate in 1 isn't too bad. Thank you for watching!
I'm not crazy about this. Mate in 1 implies it's white to move and mate in 1. There was a nice puzzle re out of the box thinking in "The Soviet Chess Primer", where there's a mate in one that looks impossible. Then you have to use your imagination and think outside the box, re, HOW COULD it be mate in 1. At that point, you can imagine a pawn configuration where taking en passant capturing is possible, allowing the mate. But that didn't violate the rule of how mate puzzles are stated, re it WAS the winning side to MOVE AND MATE. "Logic Puzzles" are FINE, but shouldn't trample all over convention to use a "trick" to make a word game "possible" in chess, IMO.
It is verbal trickery combined with chess. I've never like these types of puzzles because it violates the definition of puzzles that are 'mate in 1'.. which always starts with the person playing the pieces that start on the bottom (in this case white) and the # = the number of friendly moves to reach some conclusion. Some folks think it is cute.. I just think chess is difficult enough without puzzle makers trying to intentionally confuse the situation by violating the definition of the puzzle.
This is like puzzling... "How is the murder..." and then... the puzzle owner "Haha, it's suicide...". Probably too much miss-direction to even find it puzzleish. There are some people that enjoy finding lightbulbs in dark rooms...
Yeah, it is a different type of puzzle. To use your analogy, this puzzle is like finding a person dead and trying to figure out whether it is a murder or a suicide. Happily, with logic, we are able to figure out this one. Thanks for watching!
@@ChessforCharity Think even more out of the box. Pull out a hammer and smash the board to force ur opponent to surrender. Is it much better? Thx for reading my comment!
@@ChessforCharity No. It is not. We are explicitly told something(mate in one position, or “it is murder”), which ends up being categorically incorrect.
That's a really cool puzzle. I managed to solve it myself using the same logic you showed in the video, although it took me a lot longer! Once I finally realised it had to be black's move the rest was not too hard.
I mean it's a cool puzzle. But the title is misleading since it's not actually what the puzzle is asking. The actual answer is that it's not a mate in 1. The puzzle title is worded, it's saying "There's mate in 1. How do you do it?" And... you can't. You can't win in one move. Even if you made the argument that black and white each moving a piece counts as a single chess turn, that logic still doesn't work in this case since moving from black to move to white to move would cause the chess game to move on to the next turn. And regardless, the starting position cannot be considered a mate in 1 until the turn player can mate.
@@andrewkandasamy That’s incorrect. White can mate within one move, so it counts as mate in one. You’re thinking “mate on the same move, numbered from move 1,” but the starting order doesn’t actually matter because the puzzle doesn’t start from the beginning of the game. Plug this position into an analysis board with black to move and it’ll be evaluated as mate in 1.
After the "Think outside the box" comment, I expected to hear "I told you to find the 'mate' in one, I never said 'checkmate' in one. Here's how you get stalemate in one move."
I get that, just remember that white plays first, and black plays the end of the move, which means when black moves, it is the end of that turn. When white moves, it is a new turn.
I have a question though A complete move starts with White's ply move (ply move = half move) followed by Black making their ply move. Since it is Black to Move, wouldn't it be Mate in 2 since Black's ply move ends one move and White's ply move starts another move?
So in other words, you didn't give the position where there was a mate in one, you gave the position prior to a mate in one. It's not clever, it's deceptive, and hence you've lost our trust in addition to losing me as a subscriber.
Sorry you feel that way. I think it is cleaver because there is a logical deduction necessary to know that it is black to move. It is about the logic, not about being deceptive. Hopefully one day I can gain your subscription back. Thanks for watching.
The best of these I ever saw was one that said "white to move and force mate in as few moves as possible." White didn't have M1 in that puzzle, but did have a check that where the black king couldn't move, nothing could capture the checking piece, and the only blocking move opened up a discovered checkmate on the white king. White couldn't force a win in one move, but could *force* a loss.
@@ChessforCharity I found it! I remember where I saw it. It wasn't originally a chess puzzle, but inspired by a Gothamchess video. ua-cam.com/video/7ENrzaFDta4/v-deo.htmlsi=DEZJfv_1YXIncMA8 The position appears at 19:54, but for the trick puzzle to work the black queen needs to be moved to the back rank.
Before the video starts: I would move the white rook up one peice. The king cannot move to any safe space minus the knight. Though not a mate in 1 you have full control over that king
Yes, that is true. There are a bunch of mate in 2s from that position, but the key is to be able to recognize that it is actually black's move to begin with. Thanks for watching!
@@ChessforCharity I mean, even if it's black's turn to move, it's still mate in 2. A mate in 1 only occurs when the turn player can checkmate by moving a piece.
@@andrewkandasamy I see what you are saying, but black has not completed their turn yet. So, if you want to get technical, each side has a 1/2 move to play in order to checkmate.
@@ChessforCharity Right, which is why it is not a mate in 1. Because black moving would end the chess game turn since chess game turns always end after black’s half move.
@@andrewkandasamy I think it is a terminology thing then. If each side makes a 1/2 move, then the game is over in 1 full move. Sorry if that wasn't explained well. I am working on improving my explanations.
@@ChessforCharity Is it cool indeed but would have been more challenging if the question was " can you mate in one"? Saying and confirming that it's mate in one can only have one output. Anyway thanks for uploading!
I, as someone who doesn't play chess and only (at most) understands how pieces move, started by thinking "Well, when they say 'Mate in (Insert Number)" in movies, it's immediately followed by the other guy making a move, and then the first guy repeating "Now it's Mate in (Insert Lower Number)." So I figured "In what way is one side only capable of making a move(s) that screws them over and ends the game faster for the other player?" And from there, I figured out that all of Black's moves were bad choices. The fact that I figured this out before clicking on the video makes me proud. Maybe I am good at chess in some odd way.
Very nice puzzle and I enjoyed it, but of course it's misleading. A "mate in one" puzzle is a position where the person whose turn it is delivers mate on the move.
Nice try but I've seen puzzles with this trick before😎 Also minor point, at 2:08 Qb7# is technically an alternative mate. I do think you could have shown a few moves in an example line showing how this position could be achieved but it was still a fun exercise 👍
@@ChessforCharity I think I saw something similar in a chess book years ago. Something about thinking outside of the box. And one where castling was the solution. I don't think otherwise I'd have switched the move.
@@bubbahottep8644 Yeah, there are a lot of fun 'out of the box' puzzles like this. I am a fan of them since it really forces me to challenge my assumptions and think creatively. 🙂
Well here is the problem. There is 0 logic in this sentence. BLACK TO MOVE AND M1 FOR WHITE. if its BLACK TO MOVE then it has to be M2 FOR WHITE. Ur logic in this Video is completely false. And congrats on losing subs for clickbaiting
@@kilianlechner5400The checkmate clock doesn't count the opponent moves. A checkmate in two for white is a position that white moves, black moves then white checkmate.
Notation is that move 1 in a game is white then black. Move two is white then black, etc. Same reason a mate in 2 involves 3 moves, two for one player and one for the other.
I see what you are saying, but I think about it as the next move for white results in checkmate. We just aren’t told that it is black’s move from the beginning. We are seeing the second ‘half’ of black’s turn. It is all fun to think about. Hopefully you enjoyed the puzzle. Thank you for watching! 🙂
This is a good point to ask about. For mate in n, if we flip the player on move because it's illegal with white to move, then by the relevant footnote to Codex Article 15, Black gets an extra move, and White has to come with answers to everything that Black can play. But the stipulation still says "mate in n".
Deceptive puzzle, your move and your opponent's move are together two moves, not one... And anyways, a puzzle is always presented post-last move basis.
Yeah, I see that point. That is why it is a puzzle that makes one question assumptions. It wasn't trying to be deceptive as much as it was trying to get others to think outside the box.
@@ChessforCharity Of course, I don't doubt the intentions. From the POV of the question solver, let me say, it did cross my mind that maybe we're talking about black's move first. But then I tried from the angle of black's single move towards checkmating white. which was clearly not possible. So although I did think outside the box but it didn't lead much. Anyhow, nice puzzle.
Since it's black to move, there is no mate in 1. A puzzle designed as mate in 1 means that the attacking turn, black, can mate in 1 move. Basically the point of this puzzle is to pay attention which color to move
Perhaps the compose of the puzzle was mistaken. I thought that the half move for black and the half move for white would constitute 1 move. I see it is ‘tricky’, but it seems like a mate in one to me. Thank you for watching!
I certainly don't mean to drive you crazy! Haha I think it is a cool logic puzzle that intersects well with chess. Since one can deduce that black is to move, it is pretty cool. Black's 1/2 move + white's 1/2 move is 1 move. I promise it wasn't meant to be a trick. Thanks for watching!
Been a while since I have seen this channel, but this was a nice, simple application of retrograde conventions. If a viewer simply knows the rules of problems, it is not terribly difficult, and I got the truck immediately as a result. Still took a minute it get the 2. b8=S underpromotion though, so that was cool
That’s true, but it would ruin the ‘logic’ part of the logic chess puzzle. I think it is cool that one can deduce that it’s black to move. Thank you for watching! 🙂
MANY LEGAL VARIATIONS POSSIBLE ,, LETS SUPPOSE BLACK ROOK WAS IN H5 AND WHITE KNIGHT WAS AT G5 ,, SO NOW BLACK CAN GO RH8 AND WHITE CAN MOVE NH7,, NOW ITS BLACKS TURN ,,
"Think outside the box" puzzles always draw a fine line. Once I realized that black couldn't have moved last, I concluded black must have another piece we can't see, and placing it on c8 allows the white pawn to capture it for mate in 1.
I completely agree. I think 'outside the box' puzzles can be controversial because it feels like a trick even though it is just a different type of puzzle. I view them more like logic puzzles operating within the game of chess. 😀
@@ChessforCharity the problem is many puzzles are not real game examples and some are not possible to occur in a real game so many assume the puzzle’s start does not have to make sense.
@@balancemaster55 Yep, you are right about that. So, when one sees there is no mate in 1 if it is white's move, they have to question those assumptions and then deduce that it can't be white's move. I will try to explain that better in the future. Thanks for watching.
@@ChessforCharity I'd say that it is controversial due to presentation. It isn't a chess puzzle at all and won't really assist anyone in their chess thinking in the slightest because it is rooted in a trick, not actually gameplay skill. I would put it akin to freeze framing a basketball game and asking what you should do next but aha, you've tricked the viewer because in reality, the actual official game ball got knocked over to the bench and the one that appears to be in play was actually accidentally thrown onto the court by one of the fans. Presenting that as a problem for decision making on the basketball court would be seen as deceptive and a waste of time to whoever you told that too. The same is true in this case. The trick here isn't that the position itself is tricky. It is that you (and or the composer) are misrepresenting the situation by intentionally asking someone to make a decision in a situation where the player literally cannot make a decision on what to do next because it isn't their move but you're just not telling them that. Similarly, any player on that court would have known which ball was in play. Freeze framing it and asking someone to analyze it is a waste of their time and people don't like it when they realize after they walked over that the guy who said "Hey, come over here!" intentionally brought them over to waste their time. I agree that that's not any better than "Hey, there's a black piece on c8 that got knocked off the board" or "It is there but only a few pixels. Too bad you couldn't see it" or "Yeah, we're not actually playing chess. We're actually playing Bughouse. I take the rook and hand it to my partner who delivers checkmate with it on the other board". Calling it mate in 1 also carries implications. A checkmate in 1 position implies either white to play and mate in 1 or black to play and mate in 1", similar to how the sentence "Go!" in the English language really implies "You go!". I would also add that chess puzzles are not necessarily legal positions so using the lack of the ability for there to have been a previous legal black move to reach the position is not valid reasoning and even if there was, it doesn't change the above. While I don't prefer the idea of masquerading one type of puzzle as another, I think if I were to present this, the wording I'd use is "This is the position. On his next move, white checkmated black. How is this possible?" You can tell them that "This is the legal position" if you want to use the working backwards logic. This separates it from standard chess vernacular which sidesteps the implications and using the question "How is this possible?" helps to divorce it from the expectations of normality better than saying to think outside the box while also giving the audience a heads up that there's often going to be trick answers and that this likely isn't much a chess puzzle at all. Thus when you tell them the answer there will a lot less controversy to follow as missing information is a hallmark of "How is this possible?" problems.
Yeah, this is not straight up lying at all. This is 1/2 move + 1/2 move. I think there is more to it than you were thinking. I am sorry you didn't enjoy it. Thank you for watching though!
Hi Everyone! Thanks for being here! I just wanted to address some comments that I have been getting and hopefully provide some clarity (SPOILERS AHEAD): - This is NOT meant to be clickbait or a trick - it is meant to be a chess logic puzzle (like it says in the title). The point is that one is supposed to examine the position and *logically deduce* that it cannot be white's move. If it were, black would have no legal move in the previous position. Therefore, it is must black's move in the position on screen. That is the logic part of the puzzle. No tricks, no errors, just logical deduction. - Yes, it is mate in 1 because black has not finished their turn yet. Once black moves, it will be white's move and it will be checkmate in 1 move. Compare that to any other forced checkmate. It is the same idea. 🙂
You can't deduce that it's blacks move, because we don't know if there even was a previous move. It's only under the assumption that this was a regular game, and not just a composition with impossible requirements.
Clearly KLICKBAIT! Chess has standards - like 1. SAYING who is to move and 2. The chessboard is configured so the “to move” side is towards the player! 3. PLUS, this “answer” would literally NEVER occur in a real game!!
When you tell someone mate in 1 without indicating which player, one will logically look at both white and black and see which side has a mate in 1. Your "logic" puzzle where I have to realize mate in 1 includes finding the move for my opponent that then creates my mate in 1, makes people feel cheated. Yes you technically offered a logic puzzle, but you did not follow the logic of chess. you did not tell the chess people to stop applying their chess logic. Anyone who stumbles into your video from the chess world will deduce you make no sense.
Ah yes a "logic" puzzle where the hard part is to intentionally misinterpret the information given to us to force a different board where you can actually checkmate in one So "logical"
Nope, the “logic” part is to question your assumptions walking in and realizing that mate in 1 doesn’t automatically mean white to move. Once you figure that out, you realize black must move to complete their turn, and then it is mate in 1. Not trying to be deceptive, just trying to enjoy a logic puzzle.
@SappinYourSentry - I am sorry you feel that way, but I would encourage you to not judge an entire channel by one video. If you see where I am coming from, you will see that I am not trying to deceive anyone.
I mean he tells you there's a mate in one. So if you couldn't figure out that there must be some possible way to make that happen, then that's on you. It seems a lot of people couldn't find it, gave up, and then blamed the puzzle, or channel, instead of accepting that they just weren't capable of solving it.
@@jacobmarshall23 You know... i just watched another chess puzzle video and i couldn't solve it and then i watched the video to the end and got the solution. (I'm less than a beginner btw) I left the video with a pretty positive mood however, because i could see where i was wrong. So, it's not like i'm too proud to admit defeat. It's more like i'm pretty annoyed when i have the feeling that i got cheated and that is what this video gave me.
What's stopping Kxc7? It has to be Black's move, else the position is illegal; if it's White's move, Black's King had to move, and if you look at the position, the King had to move Kc8-b8, but the King is in check by both Rook and knight on c8, and that's not possible in this position, therefore Rxa7, Rc8 mate, or Kxa7, b8=N mate or Kxc7, bxa8=N mate.
There is no mate in 1. If it's white to move there is no single move that is mate. If it's black to move there is obviously no move that is mate. You said you didn't want it to be clickbait but you're a liar. The title is clearly worded to say that the puzzle is hard. But when you look at the position evaluating it is simple. Therefore the title is saying that there has to be some hidden idea/trick which is hard to spot. This means that you know everyone is going to see the position and see there is no mate in 1. I'm now never going to watch another video, subscribe, or donate to your chosen charity. Good work on the clickbait though, hope the engagement stats were worth it 👍
Agreed (with the possible exception of donating to the charities. Some of them he’s donating to I know are good causes and they didn’t choose to be associated with this guy). This video (and the fact that he keeps doubling and tripling down on the fact that “it’s just a cool logic puzzle and not clickbait”) makes me angry.
I very much disagree. You are able to logically conclude that it is black to move. Once you figure that out, you realize that it is mate in 1 because black hasn’t finished their move. That is the point. I am sorry you didn’t enjoy the video, but it wasn’t intended on being a trick. I would encourage you to check out other videos and not judge the entirety of my channel from one video.
When black finishes their move there will still not be mate on the board. Saying it is mate in 1 is a lie. It's like having a board in starting position and saying it's mate in 1 because at some point in the game it's mate in 1. It's not a logic puzzle because it is nonsensical. You aren't able to deduce it's black to move because even if it is black to move it is not mate in 1. You literally just said it yourself - once black finishes their move it will be mate in 1. So it will be black's 1 move, then white's 1 move to mate. That's what you just said, so it's a blatant contradiction and therefore a lie that you are aware of. If you said something like "every move ends in mate" then it would be honest but then no-one would come here. The whole reason for the video existing is the lie. So I'm not surprised you're deciding to die on this hill because you lose the respect of the audience either way.
@@teapotexorcist I understand what you are saying, but I would ask for you to understand where I am coming from. - Each move is called a 'half move' in chess terminology. Black finishing their (half) move will allow white to make their (half) move to win. To me, that is just 1/2 +1/2 = 1 move. - You are able to deduce that it is black's move. That is where the logic part comes in. - I am sorry you don't see what I am saying. As I mentioned, I am not trying to disrespect or trick my audience. I just wanted to present a cool puzzle. If I lost your respect, I apologize. I just *love* chess and helping people and I thought this was a cool puzzle to share. It wasn't intended on being deceptive. I just ask that you don't question my intentions for the channel overall. I hope to see you around the comments section more in the future. 🤝
Kind of, but it is an important to recognize "if I make a move that lands in this position, then no matter what my opponent does, I can checkmate on the next move."
Okay, this is officially the dumbest puzzle in the history of forever. You DELIBERATELY MISLED THE VIEWER. At that point it stops being a puzzle and starts being nonsense.
I disagree. It is a logic puzzle where you have to see that it can't be white's move, so it must be black's move. I would not call it misleading since it is still checkmate in 1 after black finished their turn - which comes from a logical deduction. Thanks for watching!
@@jaideepshekhar4621 it was misleading because the solving condition changes over the course of the video. We start with "Find the mate-in-one" and then we end with "prove that any move black makes leads to mate-in-one". Those two conditions are fundamentally different. One does not lead to the other.
@@JohnWTolbert "prove that any move black makes leads to mate-in-one" no. Rephrase that as "prove it's black's turn instead of white in this M1". You do understand that BOTH players move every turn? There is still a M1 even when its the other player's turn.
I mean, I did consider that it was blacks move, but I also obviously didn't find a mate in 1 for black, so I was just kinda confused calling this a mate in 1 when black could not mate in 1.
@@ChessforCharity You can use this same reasoning to call literally any mating tactics puzzle a mate in one lmao. “Just deduce the other moves, and then one move from the end of the sequence it’s mate in one, therefore it’s a mate in one puzzle.”
It is a logic chess puzzle, so it may challenge some of your *assumptions*. The fact that one can *deduce* that it is black to move by studying the board makes it a logic puzzle. Then, the 1/2 move for black + 1/2 for white is 1 full move. Thanks for watching!
The fact that this is black to move and lose is not obvious at all because there are ways to recreate this situation with white having the turn, you just offset the regular puzzle 1 turn back.
You are right! It is not obvious at all. That is why it is a logic puzzle. One must deduce that it is black to move and then it all works out. Thanks for watching!
@@ChessforCharity, I don't think this involves deduction but pure guessing, which is initiated not by the position in the puzzle but the narration, logic does not play a significant role in this puzzle as it is common in chess puzzles, thanks for the video
@@softed It does involve deduction because if one analyzes the puzzle, they will see that it cannot be white to move because black would have no last legal move (that is what is so cool about it!). Once they make that logic deduction, it is going to be checkmate after black moves. No guessing involved, just pure logic. I apologize for not explaining it well. I really think it is a cool problem.
If it's a black move, then of course the Rook could have been the last move. The rook was on the A file, moving to A8, then the white Knight was moving from B5 to A7. That's where we are now, and it's black's move again.
5:59 If you haven't seen the knight is PINNED to the king, then since the knight cannot move because that would cause his own king to die and this is prohibited, THIS IS NOT CHECKMATE. (In fact, the Black King didn't get the hashtag symbol (#) meaning he didn't lose.).
The promotion to the knight is checkmate because of the rook. The knight is protected by the queen and the black king is being checked by the white rook. Therefore, it is checkmate. Thank you for watching! :)
Isn’t this an impossible position for the board to be in if it’s white’s move? What was black’s previous move to get into this position? Impossible, right?
Yes!! That is the essence of the puzzle. Now that you logically deduced that it would be impossible for white to be on move, you know it is black to move. No matter what they do, it is mate on the next move. You figured out the logic part that many people didn’t. Nice work and thanks for watching. 😃
@@davidhess6593 Look up proof games - the term is used quite often. :) When one side makes a move, it is technically a 1/2 move. Unconventional for sure, but that is how the composer (not me) intended it.
I am sorry you feel that way. I think it is a logic puzzle because you can logically deduce whose move it is by just looking at the board. My other videos are more traditional chess puzzles. I would ask that you give the channel another chance. Either way, thanks for watching.
Great explanation. Flipping the player to move when there's no legal retraction is kind of the "official chess joke". It appears as Article 15 of the Problem Codex. This is one of the best of 100s of instances of this funny idea. But I would really appreciate, Frank, if you can highlight the composer's name right up front in your screen: you have plenty of space to left or right of the board. There is no IP associated with chess problems, but it's part of the problem culture to always give the composer's name when quoting a problem. This also gives a sense of history which is part of the aesthetic. Please. In this case it's Walter Freiherr von Holzhausen (Akademisches Monatsheft für Schach 1901).
Thanks for the feedback! I am totally on board with that (pun intended). I like to credit the composer in the description (if I know them), but I think the screen would be a bit better because I want their effort and work to be recognized. After all, these puzzles are incredible and I just want to show them to spread the beautiful game of chess. 🙂
@@ChessforCharity
_the screen would be a bit better_
Very much better, I'd say. ;)
Great video, thank you.
7k
there's something so cool about the idea that this puzzle was crafted over a century ago
Still, it should be WHITE gives mate in one.
"Mate in one is a term used to describe a position on a chessboard that allows the PLAYER TO MOVE to give checkmate in one move without any previous forced checks or forced moves."
Correct!
Верно
Exactly. I found it funny when he said: try it with your friends they might think there’s a mistake in the puzzle.
Oh gee i wonder why, because there is 🤪
The mistake he makes is, he should say WHITE gives mate in one. Not completely correct, but much better, since it can't be white's move, it has to be one move for black and THEN mate in one.
yea this guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about lol
Gonna be honest:
Logically deducing it is black's move is kind of nonsensical as impossible positions appear in puzzles with some frequency.
Most puzzle positions are contrived rather than impossible. There is however a genre of problems where previous history of positions has to be deduced in order to be able to solve the puzzle. The typical one is arguing that you can take en passant due to a unique prior move by the opponent.
@@levborisov8590 Those still have the correct player to move according to how the puzzle is worded. Puzzles where you have to deduce whose move it is are a whole different variety of retrograde puzzles. This one is pretending not not to be one of those when it is. It should be written more like "Prove which side has the move, and find mate in 1 for the other side."
That's exactly what I was thinking. Plus mate in one implies that it was the current move to mate. I wasted my time on this:(
Only in particular puzzles which are designed to be unusual in some respect. In all standard mate in X problems or win/draw studies, the convention is that the starting position has to be legal.
Yeah also when you realize white can't do it in 30 seconds the logical thing is to go "Ok can black do it?" and realize they can't in another 10 seconds. You don't need the logical mumbojumbo he is using. This is the reason why puzzles like that piss me off sometimes - Tell people who's move it is and what direction on the board are pawns moving.
As much as I want to love this puzzle, I think being intentionally misleading and getting berated for it shouldn’t be surprise. You can’t pie someone in the face and then when they get mad you explain the joke and give them compensation and expect them to not hold it against you. You were obviously fishing for people to get confused, so don’t be surprised when they don’t like the result. Most people go into chess logic puzzles assuming it’s more basic and a simple test of their knowledge, misleading people like this brings them out of their comfort zone so they obviously won’t always like it.
When you said it's Black to move, I was like: Wait, how in the world can Black checkmate White in 1 move?
😂😂😂😂😂😂
My thoughts exactly. Hence the title is click bait.
I also had the same thought 💀
The thesis statement of the puzzle is a scam. The fastest way to mate black requires 2 moves. The explanation can be found in the chess notation of the puzzle solution (assuming the first move in the puzzle as move 1 and that the original score was 0-0):
1. ... black_move (1. ... black_move+)
2. white_move#
1-0
@@kotelnikovmikail wrong. chess is played 1 move at a time. each player gets a turn. for example, a game may start with:
1. e4 e5
Notice how blacks move e5 is not 2? It is 1 move. Hence, you are wrong. It would go:
1. black_move white_move#
ONE MOVE
Well, yes, when you say "find the mate-in-one," the person is going to assume that the player whose move it is can deliver checkmate on that move.
Correct, and this puzzle is cool (to me) because if one proceeds with that assumption, they realize that it isn’t not possible for it to be white’s move. It is all fun stuff! Thanks for watching! 🙂
@@ChessforCharity From that position neither black nor white have "checkmates in one" Id just be a bit pissed because what you are asking is formulated incorrectly just for the joke.
Yeah, I see that point, but I would argue that white does have mate in 1, but they are just waiting for black to make their move. I was trying to make is less of a “trick” and more of a logic puzzle. Thanks for the feedback! 🙂
@@MonsieurRob It's all about conventions. Chess Problems have somewhat different rules from Chess Games, such as the a posteriori and retro strategy conventions. The idea that white is always the one to deliver mate is a fundamental rule of chess problems, and thence the convention that black still moves first if white is the proven last move is an obscure rule, but nonetheless one that definitely exists in the codex. It is not a joke or cheap trick; it is literally in the rules for chess problems, whether you like it or not, and there are hundreds of compositions that use the same theme.
@@eifbkcn Agree. That said, the problem makes use (plays off) of the default standard for tactics training (including Mate in X problems) where you are always initiating the move...whether the first (white) or last half (black) of one full game move. The "trick" here lies in ignoring that reality. Black's move closes out game move N. White then makes use of N+1 to deliver mate. N does not equal N+1.
1. While technically true by Chess terminology, I feel like anyone who hears "Mate in 1" will be thinking that the active player will be the one to mate. Saying "Oh, Black moves, but then WHITE Mates" is kinda cheating.
2. This also reminds me of an older Puzzle that requires a DIFFERENT Outside the Box thinking solution, where you use white to capture and promote to a BLACK Knight. Now, that puzzle doesn't work any more due to a rules change, but with some tricky wording, you can still use it for a sneaky puzzle!
I saw once a puzzle where the only way to checkmate in 2 was to "overpromote" your pawn to opponent's King, they would have only 1 legal move and then you could checkmate both Kings at once.
Wtf? It seems chess was a lot more fun before this rule change.
I won't exactly call it cheating, but it is tricky, like he said. I think the point is to realise there IS no M1 for white, analyse the position, and THEN realise its black's turn. Amazing puzzle!
@@jaideepshekhar4621 Yep, that is what I was going for. I was not trying to clickbait or 'cheat' anyone. I just wanted to present a tricky logic puzzle. :)
But the knight can block the check with ....Nb6! Or Black can play then even better...Kxc7. The solution is the only correct one.
I'm so proud of myself for seeing the move order tbh.
I was like: "theres no way black could have gotten there unless white moved la.... wait"
Nice work! I am glad you were able to figure it out! 🙂
me too actually figured it out took a couple minutes
There are many puzzles where white has to make the first move in order to not stalemate black
@@ChessforCharity It's not relevant. Chess puzzle positions don't have to be reachable positions.
Wrong. There's no way black's king could've gotten there if white previously moved. Black's king would've been on c8 and the pawn on b7 would've had to be moved from b6 to check the king but the rook was on c7 checking the king.
i was thinking *literally* outside the box, as if there was some move i could make *off of the board* that was mate in 1
get a gun and kill your opponent, brilliant checkmate
I like that you were starting to go down that path! Thanks for watching!
use a gun and shoot the opponent
There is a different illegal move that would result in mate in 1 if it were white to move. Pawn captures c8 promote to rook/queen. There's nothing on c8 to capture, ofc, but it would result in mate
I was thinking about an illegal move for white, qxb7. it is illegal because pawn is white. But I think there's an actual chess variant where you can capture your own pieces
You said to think outside the box..so i assumed it was a chess game with ability to capture your own pieces so i just took white pawn with the queen
I thought it was black's turn at first since I intuitively thought that position is a little odd. As a beginner level, it feels nice that I actually got that right. Now to translate this knowledge to reverse my losing streak ..
It is not respectful to invite people to solve an incorrectly stated problem. A tricky logic puzzle, a problem which requires a non-standard way of thinking, must be stated correctly.
“Correctly” is a tough word to define. Sufficient information was given in order to deduce who is to move. That is what I was vague. Sorry it wasn’t clearer. If I said it was black to move, it would be super easy. That is what one can just show the position and figure it out from there. Sorry you found it disrespectful. I appreciate the feedback though. I am always trying to improve. 🙂
"Acshually, it was blacks move the entire time even though I said it was mate in 1 ☝️🤓"
If you were to plug this position into stockfish and say "black to move, what is the evaluation?" it would say "M1 for white".
Yeah, that is the *logic* part of the puzzle. The fact that one can figure out that black is to move by simply studying the board is pretty cool (to me, at least). Thank you for watching!
@@ChessforCharitythat's a wonderful puzzle
(The catch is, I never said that I'm speaking a proper English. In fact I'm speaking a dialect, in which "wonderful" means "terrible".)
THis puzzle is like -
How do you drive from London to Paris in 1 hour?
Answer: You take a plane, because you can't drive there in 1 hour, and you have to understand that you can't drive there in 1 hour to solve the puzzle. How cool is that?
That isn’t comparable at all in my opinion. You can logically deduce that it is black to move in this position. To me, that is the part that is super important. Sorry you didn’t enjoy it, but check out some of my other videos.
@@ChessforCharity You can also logically deduce that you can't drive to Paris in 1 hour.
@@ChessforCharity I will not check out your other videos, because this one feels intellectually dishonest. Why would I want educational content from someone like that?
@@ChessforCharity Most puzzles don't have a "logical" position.
Technically, it is not mate in one, as the turns ends with black's move. The moves in chess are defined as follows:
Move 1:
{White move} {Black Move}/{Checkmate}
Move 2:
{White move} {Black Move}/{Checkmate}
If its black to play, the turn ends, so it is not mate in 1 move, as a new move starts after black moves. So there is a mistake in the puzzle.
It is unconventional counting for sure, but 1/2 move + 1/2 move is 1 full move. I would say it is a bit 'out of the box'.
its not out of the box, its just wrong.
@@whisperwalkful Ask a Engine and it will say Mate in 1
B8 knight is just an amazing move. Blocking the check while allowing the discovered check by the rook and also preventing the king from escaping to a6, just beautiful.
Great puzzle, poor delivery.
Yeah, I could have definitely explained it better so it wasn't so contentious. Thanks for the feedback!
this puzzle is really amazing because it is so rare to promote to a knight and give checkmate in the same move
I agree! It is even crazier that an underpromotion can lead to mate in two different ways! Thank you for watching! 🙂
Nope, it is quite common in chess puzzles to promote to knight instead of queen.
this is a puzzle that's rather "mate in 1, but mate yourself"
Actually figured it out backwards. I had a hunch that it was a knight promotion, and then I realized that it works if it is black's move. Good puzzle 👍
There's no mate in 1, the puzzle is formulated wrong. I also tested this position on stockfish, it says there is no mate in 1, only mate in 2. This is because 1 move can only be made by white first, and black always makes the move afterwards. You cannot do it in the other direction. If black moves, white's move is considered as the next move.
Here's an example. From the position in the puzzle, assuming that the score is 0-0:
1. ... black_move
2. white_move#
1-0
"think outside of the box"
Me: "oooh I see! The pawn can move diagonally without having to eat, so It moves to the right, promotes to queen and its checkmate!"
"its black turn, and if it does this move its check in one"
Me: "Yeah, I'm sort of a chess master my self"
Actually if black makes any more it loses during white's next move.
Lol I wasted 10 minutes questioning my chess skills. I was Like "why i'm thinking so much and can't find anything Better than mate in 2?"
I understand why the puzzle works. I still feel misled and unsatisfied though
I am sorry you feel that way! It is tough because I can't say it is black to move or it would ruin the whole puzzle. The key logic part is that one can *deduce* black is to move. Once they get that, the mate in 1 isn't too bad. Thank you for watching!
@@ChessforCharity understandable. I still like your other content it was just this video
@@randomuser395 - I appreciate that. :)
I'm not crazy about this. Mate in 1 implies it's white to move and mate in 1.
There was a nice puzzle re out of the box thinking in "The Soviet Chess Primer", where there's a mate in one that looks impossible. Then you have to use your imagination and think outside the box, re, HOW COULD it be mate in 1. At that point, you can imagine a pawn configuration where taking en passant capturing is possible, allowing the mate.
But that didn't violate the rule of how mate puzzles are stated, re it WAS the winning side to MOVE AND MATE.
"Logic Puzzles" are FINE, but shouldn't trample all over convention to use a "trick" to make a word game "possible" in chess, IMO.
I appreciate the feedback. Thanks for sharing and for watching.
1:55 for the fun fact, capture the rook and instead of promoting to a queen you have to promote to a knight, and then bring queen to b8. CHECKMATE
I don’t see a mate in one for either side.
Black to move (or else the position is illegal). The 1/2 move for black + 1/2 for white is 1 full move. Thanks for watching!
How is that mate in one? There were two moves. One black and then one white.
It is verbal trickery combined with chess. I've never like these types of puzzles because it violates the definition of puzzles that are 'mate in 1'.. which always starts with the person playing the pieces that start on the bottom (in this case white) and the # = the number of friendly moves to reach some conclusion.
Some folks think it is cute.. I just think chess is difficult enough without puzzle makers trying to intentionally confuse the situation by violating the definition of the puzzle.
Well, not all chess problems come from games, some are constructed by puzzle creators, so the pieces never actually moved to their positions.
That is a fair point as well! Thank you for watching! :)
You missed a critical possibility. Black refuses to move, runs out the clock, and loses without white mating.
Haha, I suppose that is possible. :) Thanks for watching!
If pawn promotes to a black piece then it'll still be mate in 1
no, it won't, because the king will take the rook
You cannot promote to an opponent's piece
This is like puzzling... "How is the murder..." and then... the puzzle owner "Haha, it's suicide...".
Probably too much miss-direction to even find it puzzleish.
There are some people that enjoy finding lightbulbs in dark rooms...
Yeah, it is a different type of puzzle. To use your analogy, this puzzle is like finding a person dead and trying to figure out whether it is a murder or a suicide. Happily, with logic, we are able to figure out this one. Thanks for watching!
@@ChessforCharity Think even more out of the box. Pull out a hammer and smash the board to force ur opponent to surrender. Is it much better? Thx for reading my comment!
@@ChessforCharity i wasted 7 minutes of my life
@@ChessforCharity No. It is not. We are explicitly told something(mate in one position, or “it is murder”), which ends up being categorically incorrect.
That's a really cool puzzle. I managed to solve it myself using the same logic you showed in the video, although it took me a lot longer! Once I finally realised it had to be black's move the rest was not too hard.
I am glad you figured it out! Nice job persisting for the solution! ⭐️
I mean it's a cool puzzle. But the title is misleading since it's not actually what the puzzle is asking. The actual answer is that it's not a mate in 1. The puzzle title is worded, it's saying "There's mate in 1. How do you do it?" And... you can't. You can't win in one move.
Even if you made the argument that black and white each moving a piece counts as a single chess turn, that logic still doesn't work in this case since moving from black to move to white to move would cause the chess game to move on to the next turn.
And regardless, the starting position cannot be considered a mate in 1 until the turn player can mate.
@@andrewkandasamy That’s incorrect. White can mate within one move, so it counts as mate in one. You’re thinking “mate on the same move, numbered from move 1,” but the starting order doesn’t actually matter because the puzzle doesn’t start from the beginning of the game. Plug this position into an analysis board with black to move and it’ll be evaluated as mate in 1.
After the "Think outside the box" comment, I expected to hear "I told you to find the 'mate' in one, I never said 'checkmate' in one. Here's how you get stalemate in one move."
Ok, mate in 1 means that the person whose turn it is can deliver mate on that move. This is not mate in 1 but it is forced mate.
The intention from the composer (not me) is that the 1/2 move from black + the 1/2 move from white is 1 full move. Thanks for watching!
I get that, just remember that white plays first, and black plays the end of the move, which means when black moves, it is the end of that turn. When white moves, it is a new turn.
Me watching Greatname: “hmm yes promotion to a black knight”
Crap it doesn’t even work lmao
Haha, I like the way you are thinking though!
I have a question though
A complete move starts with White's ply move (ply move = half move) followed by Black making their ply move. Since it is Black to Move, wouldn't it be Mate in 2 since Black's ply move ends one move and White's ply move starts another move?
yea it's mate in 2. The "puzzle solution" is that it is not mate in 1 lmao
It is an unconventional way of counting that makes it a mate in one. We arrive on the position and make 2 half moves. :)
@@ChessforCharity makes sense, thank you
So in other words, you didn't give the position where there was a mate in one, you gave the position prior to a mate in one. It's not clever, it's deceptive, and hence you've lost our trust in addition to losing me as a subscriber.
Sorry you feel that way. I think it is cleaver because there is a logical deduction necessary to know that it is black to move. It is about the logic, not about being deceptive. Hopefully one day I can gain your subscription back. Thanks for watching.
@@ChessforCharity you will never gain me as a subscriber because I will never watch another of your videos. Cheers.
Bruh
Bro is so salty he’s hating on charity
The best of these I ever saw was one that said "white to move and force mate in as few moves as possible." White didn't have M1 in that puzzle, but did have a check that where the black king couldn't move, nothing could capture the checking piece, and the only blocking move opened up a discovered checkmate on the white king. White couldn't force a win in one move, but could *force* a loss.
Ah, I like that! If you ever find it, feel free to share! I will have to look into that! Thank you for watching! 🙂
Technically that is "mate in one and a half"😂
@@ChessforCharity I found it! I remember where I saw it. It wasn't originally a chess puzzle, but inspired by a Gothamchess video. ua-cam.com/video/7ENrzaFDta4/v-deo.htmlsi=DEZJfv_1YXIncMA8 The position appears at 19:54, but for the trick puzzle to work the black queen needs to be moved to the back rank.
First thing that came to mind was how did we get to this position. Instantly realized it was black to move.
I am glad you were able to figure it out! :) Thank you for watching!
Before the video starts: I would move the white rook up one peice. The king cannot move to any safe space minus the knight. Though not a mate in 1 you have full control over that king
Yes, that is true. There are a bunch of mate in 2s from that position, but the key is to be able to recognize that it is actually black's move to begin with. Thanks for watching!
@@ChessforCharity I mean, even if it's black's turn to move, it's still mate in 2. A mate in 1 only occurs when the turn player can checkmate by moving a piece.
@@andrewkandasamy I see what you are saying, but black has not completed their turn yet. So, if you want to get technical, each side has a 1/2 move to play in order to checkmate.
@@ChessforCharity Right, which is why it is not a mate in 1. Because black moving would end the chess game turn since chess game turns always end after black’s half move.
@@andrewkandasamy I think it is a terminology thing then. If each side makes a 1/2 move, then the game is over in 1 full move. Sorry if that wasn't explained well. I am working on improving my explanations.
we have been bamboozled
🤣 I was trying hard to not make it a trick problem, but this one was so cool, I had to share. Thanks for watching!
@@ChessforCharity its a very nice puzzle... foR A TRICKSTER!!! nice vid tho
This IS a trick problem @@ChessforCharity
What if white captured a piece and ended up in this position?
Then, yes, it is black's turn.
It would still be black's turn
It's quite obvious that if it's mate in one, then it's Black's turn. This looks more like a troll honestly 😂
What is obvious to one is not always obvious to another. I think it is a cool brainteaser. Thanks for watching!
@@ChessforCharity Is it cool indeed but would have been more challenging if the question was " can you mate in one"?
Saying and confirming that it's mate in one can only have one output. Anyway thanks for uploading!
I, as someone who doesn't play chess and only (at most) understands how pieces move, started by thinking "Well, when they say 'Mate in (Insert Number)" in movies, it's immediately followed by the other guy making a move, and then the first guy repeating "Now it's Mate in (Insert Lower Number)." So I figured "In what way is one side only capable of making a move(s) that screws them over and ends the game faster for the other player?" And from there, I figured out that all of Black's moves were bad choices.
The fact that I figured this out before clicking on the video makes me proud. Maybe I am good at chess in some odd way.
That is great! I am glad you were able to figure it out. Stay with chess and I bet you will continue improving!
Very nice puzzle and I enjoyed it, but of course it's misleading.
A "mate in one" puzzle is a position where the person whose turn it is delivers mate on the move.
Nice try but I've seen puzzles with this trick before😎 Also minor point, at 2:08 Qb7# is technically an alternative mate. I do think you could have shown a few moves in an example line showing how this position could be achieved but it was still a fun exercise 👍
I knew there was something wrong, bcs it was a 7 minute video for an impossible mate in 1 puzzle if it was white to move
Haha, that is one way to think outside the box! 😅
Let’s go I solved it by the thumbnail
Nice work! :)
Black to move: ... Rxa7; Rc8#, or ... Kxa7; b8/N#, or ... Kxc7, bxa8/N#. That last branch was a tough one.
I'm glad you figured it out! Thank you for watching! :)
@@ChessforCharity I think I saw something similar in a chess book years ago. Something about thinking outside of the box. And one where castling was the solution. I don't think otherwise I'd have switched the move.
@@bubbahottep8644 Yeah, there are a lot of fun 'out of the box' puzzles like this. I am a fan of them since it really forces me to challenge my assumptions and think creatively. 🙂
So it’s black to move but a mate in 1 for whits
Exactly. I am glad you were able to figure it out. Thanks for watching!
Well here is the problem. There is 0 logic in this sentence. BLACK TO MOVE AND M1 FOR WHITE. if its BLACK TO MOVE then it has to be M2 FOR WHITE. Ur logic in this Video is completely false. And congrats on losing subs for clickbaiting
@@kilianlechner5400The checkmate clock doesn't count the opponent moves. A checkmate in two for white is a position that white moves, black moves then white checkmate.
@@kilianlechner5400 If you put this position into an Engine it says Mate in 1
It’s not mate in 1. When black moves it’s already one move in. Then white mates on the second move. I believe that is the notation regarding moves
Notation is that move 1 in a game is white then black. Move two is white then black, etc.
Same reason a mate in 2 involves 3 moves, two for one player and one for the other.
I see what you are saying, but I think about it as the next move for white results in checkmate. We just aren’t told that it is black’s move from the beginning. We are seeing the second ‘half’ of black’s turn. It is all fun to think about. Hopefully you enjoyed the puzzle. Thank you for watching! 🙂
This is a good point to ask about. For mate in n, if we flip the player on move because it's illegal with white to move, then by the relevant footnote to Codex Article 15, Black gets an extra move, and White has to come with answers to everything that Black can play. But the stipulation still says "mate in n".
Definitely a fun puzzle! Enjoyed solving it.
When you said to think outside the box i thougth about killing your oponent
That is a bit too outside the box. 😅
Deceptive puzzle, your move and your opponent's move are together two moves, not one...
And anyways, a puzzle is always presented post-last move basis.
Yeah, I see that point. That is why it is a puzzle that makes one question assumptions. It wasn't trying to be deceptive as much as it was trying to get others to think outside the box.
@@ChessforCharity Of course, I don't doubt the intentions.
From the POV of the question solver, let me say, it did cross my mind that maybe we're talking about black's move first. But then I tried from the angle of black's single move towards checkmating white. which was clearly not possible.
So although I did think outside the box but it didn't lead much.
Anyhow, nice puzzle.
@@Samarth916 I totally understand what you mean. Thanks for watching.
I _DID_
deduce that Black is the one to move here, but I thought that you were supposed to find M1 for Black LUL
Good one.
Nice work! Thank you for watching! 🙂
Since it's black to move, there is no mate in 1. A puzzle designed as mate in 1 means that the attacking turn, black, can mate in 1 move. Basically the point of this puzzle is to pay attention which color to move
The evaluation of the position is M1 for white.
Perhaps the compose of the puzzle was mistaken. I thought that the half move for black and the half move for white would constitute 1 move. I see it is ‘tricky’, but it seems like a mate in one to me. Thank you for watching!
remind me to now open any more of these, unless they are labeled "trick answer."
freaking mindblowing that so damn good to tricking 🗿
Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Stop edging me bro , you drivin me crazy😩
I certainly don't mean to drive you crazy! Haha I think it is a cool logic puzzle that intersects well with chess. Since one can deduce that black is to move, it is pretty cool. Black's 1/2 move + white's 1/2 move is 1 move. I promise it wasn't meant to be a trick. Thanks for watching!
It is black to move but then after any move made by black, white checkmates in 1.
Correct! Thank you for watching! 🙂
People have been incredibly respectful in the chat here. My immediate honest reaction was “Idiot!”
I think this puzzle is wrong because we don't know if this position occurred in a game or if this is just a built up position and move 1/white to move
Been a while since I have seen this channel, but this was a nice, simple application of retrograde conventions. If a viewer simply knows the rules of problems, it is not terribly difficult, and I got the truck immediately as a result. Still took a minute it get the 2. b8=S underpromotion though, so that was cool
I appreciate that! Thanks for coming back to watch some more. 🙂
What’s S?
It would have helped enormously to have known which colour had the next move.
That’s true, but it would ruin the ‘logic’ part of the logic chess puzzle. I think it is cool that one can deduce that it’s black to move. Thank you for watching! 🙂
You never explained how the black king and rook got in those positions based on the white pieces.
You are right! That's part of the puzzle itself. :)
So where is mate in 1? This is like clickbait puzzle
Very nice puzzle! You may want to spend a bit more time explaining how this position can be reached legally.
MANY LEGAL VARIATIONS POSSIBLE ,, LETS SUPPOSE BLACK ROOK WAS IN H5 AND WHITE KNIGHT WAS AT G5 ,, SO NOW BLACK CAN GO RH8 AND WHITE CAN MOVE NH7,, NOW ITS BLACKS TURN ,,
Technically it's a forced mate in 2 😅
No because White only moved once. The Evaluation says +M1 which means Mate in 1.
You really can't "think outside the box" in chess. It's a game of strict rules taking place within a defined box.
"Think outside the box" puzzles always draw a fine line. Once I realized that black couldn't have moved last, I concluded black must have another piece we can't see, and placing it on c8 allows the white pawn to capture it for mate in 1.
I completely agree. I think 'outside the box' puzzles can be controversial because it feels like a trick even though it is just a different type of puzzle. I view them more like logic puzzles operating within the game of chess. 😀
@@ChessforCharity the problem is many puzzles are not real game examples and some are not possible to occur in a real game so many assume the puzzle’s start does not have to make sense.
@@balancemaster55 Yep, you are right about that. So, when one sees there is no mate in 1 if it is white's move, they have to question those assumptions and then deduce that it can't be white's move. I will try to explain that better in the future. Thanks for watching.
@@ChessforCharity I'd say that it is controversial due to presentation. It isn't a chess puzzle at all and won't really assist anyone in their chess thinking in the slightest because it is rooted in a trick, not actually gameplay skill. I would put it akin to freeze framing a basketball game and asking what you should do next but aha, you've tricked the viewer because in reality, the actual official game ball got knocked over to the bench and the one that appears to be in play was actually accidentally thrown onto the court by one of the fans. Presenting that as a problem for decision making on the basketball court would be seen as deceptive and a waste of time to whoever you told that too. The same is true in this case. The trick here isn't that the position itself is tricky. It is that you (and or the composer) are misrepresenting the situation by intentionally asking someone to make a decision in a situation where the player literally cannot make a decision on what to do next because it isn't their move but you're just not telling them that. Similarly, any player on that court would have known which ball was in play. Freeze framing it and asking someone to analyze it is a waste of their time and people don't like it when they realize after they walked over that the guy who said "Hey, come over here!" intentionally brought them over to waste their time. I agree that that's not any better than "Hey, there's a black piece on c8 that got knocked off the board" or "It is there but only a few pixels. Too bad you couldn't see it" or "Yeah, we're not actually playing chess. We're actually playing Bughouse. I take the rook and hand it to my partner who delivers checkmate with it on the other board".
Calling it mate in 1 also carries implications. A checkmate in 1 position implies either white to play and mate in 1 or black to play and mate in 1", similar to how the sentence "Go!" in the English language really implies "You go!".
I would also add that chess puzzles are not necessarily legal positions so using the lack of the ability for there to have been a previous legal black move to reach the position is not valid reasoning and even if there was, it doesn't change the above.
While I don't prefer the idea of masquerading one type of puzzle as another, I think if I were to present this, the wording I'd use is "This is the position. On his next move, white checkmated black. How is this possible?" You can tell them that "This is the legal position" if you want to use the working backwards logic. This separates it from standard chess vernacular which sidesteps the implications and using the question "How is this possible?" helps to divorce it from the expectations of normality better than saying to think outside the box while also giving the audience a heads up that there's often going to be trick answers and that this likely isn't much a chess puzzle at all. Thus when you tell them the answer there will a lot less controversy to follow as missing information is a hallmark of "How is this possible?" problems.
@@NevarKanzaki I really like that reframing of the question, it turns it into a puzzle rather than a trick.
I loved this puzzle because of it's intricacy
I want my minute back. Theres click bait, and then theres straight up lying.
The evaluation of the position is M1 for white. It can be proven that it is black's turn, so that fact didn't need to be given.
Yeah, this is not straight up lying at all. This is 1/2 move + 1/2 move. I think there is more to it than you were thinking. I am sorry you didn't enjoy it. Thank you for watching though!
Yep! Haha
Hi Everyone! Thanks for being here!
I just wanted to address some comments that I have been getting and hopefully provide some clarity (SPOILERS AHEAD):
- This is NOT meant to be clickbait or a trick - it is meant to be a chess logic puzzle (like it says in the title). The point is that one is supposed to examine the position and *logically deduce* that it cannot be white's move. If it were, black would have no legal move in the previous position. Therefore, it is must black's move in the position on screen. That is the logic part of the puzzle. No tricks, no errors, just logical deduction.
- Yes, it is mate in 1 because black has not finished their turn yet. Once black moves, it will be white's move and it will be checkmate in 1 move. Compare that to any other forced checkmate. It is the same idea. 🙂
Man Make entire paragraph
Yeah no, this is clickbait
You can't deduce that it's blacks move, because we don't know if there even was a previous move. It's only under the assumption that this was a regular game, and not just a composition with impossible requirements.
Clearly KLICKBAIT! Chess has standards - like 1. SAYING who is to move and 2. The chessboard is configured so the “to move” side is towards the player! 3. PLUS, this “answer” would literally NEVER occur in a real game!!
When you tell someone mate in 1 without indicating which player, one will logically look at both white and black and see which side has a mate in 1. Your "logic" puzzle where I have to realize mate in 1 includes finding the move for my opponent that then creates my mate in 1, makes people feel cheated. Yes you technically offered a logic puzzle, but you did not follow the logic of chess. you did not tell the chess people to stop applying their chess logic. Anyone who stumbles into your video from the chess world will deduce you make no sense.
ive never seen a situation where promoting a pawn into a bishop is needed instead of a queen
Check out some of my other videos. I have a few where that is necessary. 😃
Only to avoid Stalemate
If you use this logic to give black the first move the actual notation would actually read 1…Ka7 not 1.Ka7.
Ah yes a "logic" puzzle where the hard part is to intentionally misinterpret the information given to us to force a different board where you can actually checkmate in one
So "logical"
Yeah. This is the first video I’ve seen from the channel and it makes me not take him seriously and not want to watch his other videos.
Nope, the “logic” part is to question your assumptions walking in and realizing that mate in 1 doesn’t automatically mean white to move. Once you figure that out, you realize black must move to complete their turn, and then it is mate in 1. Not trying to be deceptive, just trying to enjoy a logic puzzle.
@SappinYourSentry - I am sorry you feel that way, but I would encourage you to not judge an entire channel by one video. If you see where I am coming from, you will see that I am not trying to deceive anyone.
I mean he tells you there's a mate in one. So if you couldn't figure out that there must be some possible way to make that happen, then that's on you. It seems a lot of people couldn't find it, gave up, and then blamed the puzzle, or channel, instead of accepting that they just weren't capable of solving it.
@@jacobmarshall23 You know... i just watched another chess puzzle video and i couldn't solve it and then i watched the video to the end and got the solution. (I'm less than a beginner btw) I left the video with a pretty positive mood however, because i could see where i was wrong. So, it's not like i'm too proud to admit defeat. It's more like i'm pretty annoyed when i have the feeling that i got cheated and that is what this video gave me.
0:37 i think its knight C6
What's stopping Kxc7? It has to be Black's move, else the position is illegal; if it's White's move, Black's King had to move, and if you look at the position, the King had to move Kc8-b8, but the King is in check by both Rook and knight on c8, and that's not possible in this position, therefore Rxa7, Rc8 mate, or Kxa7, b8=N mate or Kxc7, bxa8=N mate.
Actually, no because king takes rook if knight C6
You hang the rook
There is no mate in 1. If it's white to move there is no single move that is mate. If it's black to move there is obviously no move that is mate.
You said you didn't want it to be clickbait but you're a liar. The title is clearly worded to say that the puzzle is hard. But when you look at the position evaluating it is simple. Therefore the title is saying that there has to be some hidden idea/trick which is hard to spot. This means that you know everyone is going to see the position and see there is no mate in 1.
I'm now never going to watch another video, subscribe, or donate to your chosen charity. Good work on the clickbait though, hope the engagement stats were worth it 👍
Agreed (with the possible exception of donating to the charities. Some of them he’s donating to I know are good causes and they didn’t choose to be associated with this guy). This video (and the fact that he keeps doubling and tripling down on the fact that “it’s just a cool logic puzzle and not clickbait”) makes me angry.
I very much disagree. You are able to logically conclude that it is black to move. Once you figure that out, you realize that it is mate in 1 because black hasn’t finished their move. That is the point.
I am sorry you didn’t enjoy the video, but it wasn’t intended on being a trick. I would encourage you to check out other videos and not judge the entirety of my channel from one video.
I still don’t think it is clickbait. I think it is a logic puzzle that some people are upset about. 🙂
When black finishes their move there will still not be mate on the board. Saying it is mate in 1 is a lie. It's like having a board in starting position and saying it's mate in 1 because at some point in the game it's mate in 1. It's not a logic puzzle because it is nonsensical. You aren't able to deduce it's black to move because even if it is black to move it is not mate in 1. You literally just said it yourself - once black finishes their move it will be mate in 1. So it will be black's 1 move, then white's 1 move to mate. That's what you just said, so it's a blatant contradiction and therefore a lie that you are aware of. If you said something like "every move ends in mate" then it would be honest but then no-one would come here. The whole reason for the video existing is the lie. So I'm not surprised you're deciding to die on this hill because you lose the respect of the audience either way.
@@teapotexorcist I understand what you are saying, but I would ask for you to understand where I am coming from.
- Each move is called a 'half move' in chess terminology. Black finishing their (half) move will allow white to make their (half) move to win. To me, that is just 1/2 +1/2 = 1 move.
- You are able to deduce that it is black's move. That is where the logic part comes in.
- I am sorry you don't see what I am saying. As I mentioned, I am not trying to disrespect or trick my audience. I just wanted to present a cool puzzle. If I lost your respect, I apologize. I just *love* chess and helping people and I thought this was a cool puzzle to share. It wasn't intended on being deceptive. I just ask that you don't question my intentions for the channel overall. I hope to see you around the comments section more in the future. 🤝
No reflection is required until the opponent has played their move.
Kind of, but it is an important to recognize "if I make a move that lands in this position, then no matter what my opponent does, I can checkmate on the next move."
So what this is is the second half of the first turn of a mate in 2
Okay, this is officially the dumbest puzzle in the history of forever. You DELIBERATELY MISLED THE VIEWER. At that point it stops being a puzzle and starts being nonsense.
I disagree. It is a logic puzzle where you have to see that it can't be white's move, so it must be black's move. I would not call it misleading since it is still checkmate in 1 after black finished their turn - which comes from a logical deduction. Thanks for watching!
Why is it misleading? Did he say it was whites move?
@@jaideepshekhar4621 ⭐
@@jaideepshekhar4621 it was misleading because the solving condition changes over the course of the video. We start with "Find the mate-in-one" and then we end with "prove that any move black makes leads to mate-in-one". Those two conditions are fundamentally different. One does not lead to the other.
@@JohnWTolbert "prove that any move black makes leads to mate-in-one" no. Rephrase that as "prove it's black's turn instead of white in this M1". You do understand that BOTH players move every turn? There is still a M1 even when its the other player's turn.
I mean, I did consider that it was blacks move, but I also obviously didn't find a mate in 1 for black, so I was just kinda confused calling this a mate in 1 when black could not mate in 1.
I get what you mean. The key insight is to realize that after black's move, it is mate in 1 no matter what. :) Thanks for watching!
yes the same thing happened with me
@@ChessforCharity You can use this same reasoning to call literally any mating tactics puzzle a mate in one lmao. “Just deduce the other moves, and then one move from the end of the sequence it’s mate in one, therefore it’s a mate in one puzzle.”
How misleading.
It is a logic chess puzzle, so it may challenge some of your *assumptions*. The fact that one can *deduce* that it is black to move by studying the board makes it a logic puzzle. Then, the 1/2 move for black + 1/2 for white is 1 full move. Thanks for watching!
The fact that this is black to move and lose is not obvious at all because there are ways to recreate this situation with white having the turn, you just offset the regular puzzle 1 turn back.
You are right! It is not obvious at all. That is why it is a logic puzzle. One must deduce that it is black to move and then it all works out. Thanks for watching!
@@ChessforCharity, I don't think this involves deduction but pure guessing, which is initiated not by the position in the puzzle but the narration, logic does not play a significant role in this puzzle as it is common in chess puzzles, thanks for the video
@@softed It does involve deduction because if one analyzes the puzzle, they will see that it cannot be white to move because black would have no last legal move (that is what is so cool about it!). Once they make that logic deduction, it is going to be checkmate after black moves. No guessing involved, just pure logic. I apologize for not explaining it well. I really think it is a cool problem.
If there are ways to recreate this situation with white having the turn than can you please tell me what blacks last move was.
If it's a black move, then of course the Rook could have been the last move. The rook was on the A file, moving to A8, then the white Knight was moving from B5 to A7. That's where we are now, and it's black's move again.
5:59 If you haven't seen the knight is PINNED to the king, then since the knight cannot move because that would cause his own king to die and this is prohibited, THIS IS NOT CHECKMATE. (In fact, the Black King didn't get the hashtag symbol (#) meaning he didn't lose.).
The promotion to the knight is checkmate because of the rook. The knight is protected by the queen and the black king is being checked by the white rook. Therefore, it is checkmate. Thank you for watching! :)
Even when the white knight cannot move, black king cannot move to a square guarded by it.
cool puzzle ill remember this when i need to figure out whos turn it is.
0:57 was the time when I thought of a knight under promotion
Isn’t this an impossible position for the board to be in if it’s white’s move? What was black’s previous move to get into this position? Impossible, right?
Yes!! That is the essence of the puzzle. Now that you logically deduced that it would be impossible for white to be on move, you know it is black to move. No matter what they do, it is mate on the next move. You figured out the logic part that many people didn’t. Nice work and thanks for watching. 😃
It's *NOT* mate in one. First the Black king moves, then the pawn promotes.
That's *TWO* moves!
1/2 move from black + 1/2 move from what is one full move. That's how the composer (not me) intended it.
@@ChessforCharity I've been playing chess for 70 years, and in that entire time I've never made half a move.
@@davidhess6593 Look up proof games - the term is used quite often. :) When one side makes a move, it is technically a 1/2 move. Unconventional for sure, but that is how the composer (not me) intended it.
I don't usually solve these but I figured this one out in just a few minutes. For an online rating of 1000 Im quite happy.
"How is this forced mate in 1?" Now it makes sense.
It is certainly out of the box for sure. Thank you for watching!
I figured that out. I’m not joking, after 5 minutes of thinking I thought outside of the box and got it right
Nice work! I am glad you figured it out! Thanks for watching!
Everyone had find the solution but no one knew it was the right solution before he said it in the video.
Haha, true. And many people are upset with the solution. I think it is cool! Thanks for watching!
I'm getting good enough at reading a board to know instantly that it being white's move didn't make sense.
White to move, pawn taking the rug, promote for knite, checkmate in one.
I learned one thing - never to click on anything from this provider again. Mate in one means it's white's turn to move.
I am sorry you feel that way. I think it is a logic puzzle because you can logically deduce whose move it is by just looking at the board. My other videos are more traditional chess puzzles. I would ask that you give the channel another chance. Either way, thanks for watching.
1:59 King f7 Queen e7
axb8Q
'Rook' is King
'King' is Rook
'Knight' is Pawn,
'Pawn' is Knight
and 'Queen' is Bishop
A mate in two is a mate in two. You can't say is a mate in only 1 and a half
The 1/2 move for black + 1/2 for white is 1 full move. Thanks for watching!